Hydrocarbon-furnace.



M. CONNOR.

vHYDEOGARBON FURNACE. APPLICATION FILED DEC. 27, 1909.

Patented Aug. 5, 1913.

IN VENTOR.

11 9 ATTORNEY.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

mans cannon, or PUEBLO, COLORADO.

HYDROCARBON-FURNACE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

To all whom it may concern: Be it known that L'Mitns Con NOR, 'a citizen of the United States, residing at which grate will allow the use of wood or other fixed carbon fuel for initially generating steam and at the same time to make the entire grate -area available so as not to interfere with the prompt generating of steam when using wood or other similar fuels.

A further object of my invention is to so design the grate as to cause the products of combustion totake a rotary,'vortex or spiral motion in their course from the grate, especially where forced draft is used as in steam fire-engine service. By means of this rotary or spiral course taken by the upwardly passing products of combustion, I secure an even distribution 'of heat throughout the boiler and more complete combustion of the fuel than is possible with the ordinary brick arrangement for burning liquid fuel.

It will be evident that in an attempt to .burn oil in a small, circular fire-box, espe-.

cially when forced draft is used, the heat of combustion is apt to be concentrated on a particular part of the fire-box or boiler and damage and inefliciency result. To obviate this it has been customary to protect the fire-box or other parts of the furnace by fire-brick or other insulating material. In special service where the units are detached, as in fire-engine service, bricking up the firebox would be objectionable as it would not provide grate area for generating steam to operate the atomizer; and, furthermore, it would'be a hard matter to place brick in such a fire-box that it would stand the requirements of the service, such as jolting over rough roads.

' These and other objects and advantages of my invention which will later appear in the specification I' attain by .the construction shown in the accompanying drawings in which- Figure 1 is a central vertical section of a boiler and furnace with my invention in position; Fig. 2is a partialplan view of a grate in which the slots radiate from the center; Fig. 3 is a partial section of a grate showing the inclination of the slots; and Fig. 4 is a partial plan view of a modified form of grate.

In the drawings 2 a steam pipe leading from the boiler to the liquid fuel supply tank. 4:; 3 is a valve in the pipe 2; Flowof oil from thetank 4. is controlled by the-valve 5. 6 is a by-pass leading steam to the atomizer 8 and 7 is a valve in the by-pass for controlling the delivery of steamto the atomizer. A valve 10 is also placed in the steam pipe for regulating the admission of steam to the tank 4. These portions of the device are old in the art and are merely shown for the purpose of illus trating how my device is to be employed.

The atomized fuel enters the furnace through pipe -9 and is discharged from the nozzle 11. Below the fuel discharge nozzle is placed the grate 14: and this grate is provided with slotted openings which are so inclined as to give a spiral direction to the air which passes 'through them and consequently to the products formed by the combustion of the liquid fuel by this air In the form' of grate shown in Fig. 2 the slots radiate from the center and all are inclined upwardly in a counter-clockwise direction, giving to the products of combustion the direction indicated by the flame lines in Fig. 2. In the form of grate shown in Fig. 4, the slots 14 are inclined in one direction with relation to the vertical and the slots 14 are inclined in the opposite direction; this will tend to cause the gases above the grate sections to travel in opposite directions and the resultant action will be a rotary or spiral motion of the gases. In Fig. 3 the inclination of the slots, which are designated by the numeral 15, is'clearly shown.

I prefer to employ a heat insulating ring 12 to protect the water legs of' the boiler and to retain heat for aiding combustion, but this may be omitted without departing from my invention.

The manner of use of my device is as follows: A. starting fire of wood or wood and coal or the like, having been laid on the grate, it is ignited and allowed to burn until Patented Aug. 5,1913. ihflillcati'oa filed December 2 7, 190:. Serial No. 531,901.

1 represents a boiler and a suficient head of steam is generated to operate the oil feed. Then the oil is turned on and, the ash left by the starting fire being inconsiderable and not suflicient to close the grate ba-r openings, the air passes up through the grate slots and impinging against the entering oil spray directs it in a spiral direction, or, in other words, in a vortex. Aside. from the great advantage of preventing the concentration of the heat at any one spot this rotary action causes the gas and air to be more thoroughly co-nnningled and retains the mixture longer in the fire-box, to the end that combustion is more c0inplete-thus performing the function of a fire-brick baflle or honey-comb.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a hydro-carbon furnace, at hydrocarbon injector or nozzle and a grate located below said injector, said grate having air passages therethrough so disposed as to give a vortex motion to the body of gases above the grate. 2. In a hydro -'carbon furnace, a hydrocarbon injector or nozzle and a grate located below said injector, said grate having air passages therein so disposed with relation to the vertical as to give a spiral or rotary direction to the air passing therethrough and to the resulting products of combustion.

3. In a hydro-carbon furnace of circular form, a hydrocarbon injector arranged to discharge in a direction tangentially of the furnace and a grate located below said ina j ector, said grate having air passages therein disposed at an angle to the vertical and in clined to discharge the air in the same tangential direction as the injector discharges the fuel.

MAUDE ENGLE, W. S. MARBLE. 

